Why Is the American Crime Rate so High

When compared with other Western-industrialized nations, the United States has the highest crime rate. It is a daunting question as to why, especially in the age we live in now. One might just boil it down to being a consequence of an ongoing population boom, the idea being that when there are more people, there is going to be more criminal activity. While this is obviously true, it is not even coming close to touching on the big picture. There are many societal factors that can influence a person to commit crime, from the hardened street thug to the typical law-abiding citizen. As for what they are doing differently in other western industrialized nations that is resulting in less crime than the United States, it is very hard to come up with a concrete idea as to why. Regardless of the country, the recession (which may be an indicator of criminal behavior) is being felt globally. The mistrust and harsh feelings toward police is just as strong, if not stronger, in other western industrialized nations. The make-up of towns and cities are pretty similar. There are ghettos in every country. There are violent street gangs in every country. Rioting against authority is far more prevalent in other countries, namely England, and they have been known to get quite hostile and violent at times, with deaths occurring in extreme cases. Laws may vary, but the main ideas remain the same in other western industrialized nations. In fact, certain laws and rights afforded to police officers during investigation are actually more repressive than they are in the United States. As we have learned in class, harsh penalties are not a predictor of less crime. So why is the crime rate so high in the U.S.? Using the five main theories from the sociological school of thought, I will explain and discuss what it is about American culture that…...

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Team 4: STAT Team
Tezra Hamilton
James R. Johnson
Bholi Lamba
Patricia S. Miller
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Metrics Used:
1. Calculation of population per square (sq.) mile
a. Individual county population/area(sq. mi)
2. Crime variable analytics
a. Calculated each crime on a sq. mile basis for all counties (ex. murder per sq. mile = murder/population per sq. mile).
b. Calculated the average of each crime using “crime per sq. mile” data.
c. Calculated “total crimes” for all counties based on crimes per sq. mile.
d. Sum of all crime averages (13.96) was used as a median to determine high and low crime areas.
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High crime counties (crime total of 13.96 and above): Kern, Kent, York, Cook, Lake, Knox, Ray, Lane, and Webb.
Low crime counties were (crime total 13.95 and below): Lee, Bell, Pike, Ida, Clay, Cass, King, Bay, Kane, Nye, and Jay
Justification:
At first glance,...